Berkeley's co-ed team powers down the sprint course in pursuit of
victory!

The University of
California - Berkeley emerged victorious over 21 other teams at the 2009 National
Concrete Canoe Competition... besting a field that included 4 previous U.S. and 2 Canadian National Champions. The
Bears now hold a record five national wins along with Team UAH and the Wisconsin
Badgers.

Berkeley’s canoe featured
multi-colored murals on a white background.
Their theme was the “San
Francisco Bay Area”.

Neither rain, nor more rain, nor even more rain could dampen
the spirits of these competitors. Despite the clouds, thunder and occasional
lightning, the event held at Tuscaloosa’s Lake Nicol looked like an ordinary
canoe race. The canoes these competitors were racing were far from ordinary
though; in fact, the competitors themselves were anything but typical (see photo
below... jag). They were civil engineering students from across the United
States and Canada, and the canoes they were racing were made of concrete.
See:

The 2009 NCCC marked the 22nd
anniversary of the national concrete canoe competition. The
first place overall winner in each of 18 Conferences was invited to compete
in the 2009 National Concrete Canoe Competition. In addition, if the first place
Conference winner finished in the top five overall in the 2008 National
Competition (University of Nevada, Reno, University of California - Berkeley,
Ecole de Technologie Superieur, Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, and the University
of Florida)... the second place team was also invited to compete at
nationals. The host school (University of Alabama) opted to compete in
2010 and four second-place qualifiers were established, rounding the field out at
22
(see below).

The two newcomers in 2009 brought the number of schools that have
participated at the national level to 110. Point totals, spreadsheets, and
statistics for the 2009 NCCC and all other national competitions can be found in
"For the Record."

John Gilbert and Andrea
Barnes covered the event for ConcreteCanoe.org. Details on each team's performance including a
description of their presentation, every question asked by the judges,
commentary on their stint, photos of their final product, and more can be found via the links
listed below. Other competition
photosare available courtesy of ASCE.
The University of Nevada-Reno posted a spreadsheet
and the University of Wisconsin-Madison archived the top design
reports.

Design reports (25% of score)
and compliance certificates were due on May 13th. These were
evaluated
prior to the competition. UC-Berkeley won this category.

The final products (25% of score)
were judged on The
Quad, located on the UA campus, on Thursday, June 11th. We
photographed the canoes with as little clutter
(participants, spectators, etc.) as possible to show exactly what each school
had to offer. Cal Poly-SLO won this category.

Cal Poly-SLO's "Vintage."

Oral presentations (25% of score)
were delivered in the Morgan Auditorium located on the UA campus on Friday, June
12th. We attended all of them and documented every question posed to the teams by the
judges. UC-Berkeley won this category.

Races (25% of score) were held June 13th
on Lake Nichol. We
were there and provided blow by
blow coverage. Nevada-Reno won this category.

Reno scores most race points with "Fusion."

According to ASCE: "With equal parts technical skill, creativity and determination,
the University of California, Berkeley captured the ‘America’s Cup of Civil
Engineering’ at the end of three days of fierce competition and more than a
year’s worth of blood, sweat and tears for the team."

The judges' support team puts the Bears
and "Bear Area" to the test while verifying the boat's dimensions.

2nd - ETS
3rd - California Polytechnic University - San Luis Obispo

ETS (left) and Cal Poly SLO (right)
both called their boats "Vintage" but the teams had very different
themes.

4th - University of Florida
5th - University of Nevada - Reno

Florida prepares to transport their entry
(left) while Reno gets ready for the flotation tank (right).